camping next to a Family with two young kids who were camping for the first time ... they got used to (and embraced) the concept of living in their Family sized tent for that long weekend, and were surprised when sunday arrived as their parents were breaking camp ...

kids: "why are you taking the tent down?"

parents: "it's time to go home"

kids: "i thought we lived here now?"

parents: "no, we're going back to our real house"

kids: "(sigh) i want to live here Forever!" ... huge smiles on parents faces, and ours

a few years ago, we picked up TBF posters and had a few musicians autograph them at the merch booth over the weekend ...

one day our friend was out meandering about town, and we brought his poster over to the merch booth while Bela Fleck happened to be there ...

when our friend returned, he noticed a new autograph on his poster and asked us about it ...

we told him that we had spotted a guy named Bill Flynn, a hippety-hop DJ "musician" who gained fame by w*rking his turntables, walking through Town Park and we asked him to autograph our TBF posters ...

a classic hundred-mile stare on our friend's face matched the pregnant pause of silence as he ran through revenge options in his twisted mind ... until we confessed that we had crossed paths with Bela Fleck, and watched our friend breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that his TBF poster hadn't been ruined ...

Johnny Cash. Me, "not so sure I am into heavy County Music". He stepped out and just time froze. He was so smooth and rough at the same time. His voice was low and his stature was almost commanding. Goosebump city and I was hooked and he did a full set almost of Swing which I flippin love!

BAM! BOOM! So nailed it.

James Taylor. Epic! He was like so intimate with us as if we were sitting around a living room. YUMMMMM!

Astonishing act I'd never heard of before, the Cleverlys. Digger Cleverly might be the funniest person I ever heard, not withstanding his late wife's tragic accident on the mayonnaise farm.

Yes that Ripple was amazing! I'd have to say my personal favorite song was ER pulling out an oldie The Truth at their nightgrass show. Followed closely by their cover of Have a Cigar! Sam Bush's Midnight Rambler was on fire. And though they played quite a few repeats both sets of the Cleverlys were so much fun, I knew the festy goers would love those guys. The only YMSB show I caught was weds on the mountain, and I'll say it was a great show! I haven't been seeing them much since Jeff left and this was the best show I'd seen with the new line-up. Of course everything Thile had his hands on was dope!

1. First time seeing Strength in Numbers2. Watching Willie Nelson in the rain3. Catching YSMB doing a tweener in the crowd before they were known. (That's the story I'm telling myself)4. Rain...Snow...Hail...Sun Sometimes almost all at one.5. Always, someone I've never heard of before totally blowing my socks off6. David Byrne7. Sustainability8. the 3 pm shade and constant sounds from the stage at Warner field. And the night jamming and parties in Town Park9. MY first (and next) Rum Ball10. Looking forward to next year

One of the very best memories ever was crawling on our stomaches past security horses and laughing so loud, about 6 of us we were broke and spontaneous and showed up on the fly. Busted made us walk out like villans with a horse behind us.I still laugh.

My friend Harry came along 1 year, so white he was blue. So he emerged fro his room for the first day of feast and he looked like the Pillsbery Dough Boy so coated with sunscreen he was all white so funny.Same guy refused to leave the tarp cause he had to walk through the glow stick people. LOL!!!! They were dancing all around us. So funny.

Up front and about 8 guys surround me with Cigars. I could not get air. I fainted right there. I said excuse me I'm going to faint.

Too many greats and firsts. Never will forget.

Logged

" Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world. " - Albert Einstein

Our first year was 2010 and we attended with close friends and their baby. They had a family of close friends with us as well and we made friends with a another couple as the moms all chatted baby stuff. Throughout the weekend we had a wonderful time, teaching the kids (and some adults) to hula hoop, enjoying one another's company, and just blissing out on the festival.

On Saturday at sunset, my husband pulled out his camera to record us boding at just the right time. He thought he was capturing the sunset and the kids, but ended up capturing our favorite would-be tradition of the weekend... Dancing and playing with friends new and old to "Circles Around Me' during Sam's set. One of our new friends was even magically able to hula hoop for the first time after trying to "get it" for years. Ever since, that song brings me joy and my most beloved memories.

Last year we had caught every set on the main stage on Thursday and Friday with our little tarp squeezing into the front despite having high tarp line numbers. Saturday we decided to sleep in, and ride our mountain bikes into town from Mary E. There's a great trail (the galloping goose) that connects the Illium area to Lawson Hill area (and the Telluride Brewery). Part of my personal goal at TBF was to do as much riding and hiking as I possibly could. First some back story:

In 1989 when I was 16 my Dad and I rode our bikes from Silverton to Lake City, then Lake City to Ouray, and Ouray to Telluride, and finally Telluride to Silverton. We had spent many times in southwestern Colorado, but it was our first time to ever be in Telluride. We had no idea what to expect, and had only planned on Telluride being a pit stop along the 225 mile ride crossing 4 above 12,000 peaks. Telluride blew us away and we ended up staying two nights and swore we were going to come back together some day.

In 2011 my Dad passed away after a quick battle with cancer. My wife and I had always dreamed of attending TBF for years. Seems I was always a day late and a dollar short on getting tickets. So in 2015 I told my wife whose birthday is on Summer Solstice that for her 40th Birthday we were going to TBF! I diligently followed Planet Bluegrasses posts and was on the phone the second tickets went on sale and finally scored two passes and camping at Illium.

So on Saturday after lunch in camp we rolled out of Illium with the goal of stopping at TBC for a few pints on the way to town and the festival grounds. On the way to TBC the trail passes a bridge over the river that is covered in Tibetan prayer flags, we'd been on this trail earlier in the week, so I was prepared. I'd brought with me a few of my Dads personal items, A beartooth necklace that he wore for nearly 30 years of his life, which I was wearing, and two of his monogrammed cufflinks he'd had since highschool. I wanted a piece of my Dad to be at permanent rest in one of his favorite places in the world. I paused on the bridge for reflection and tossed one of the cufflinks into the river. We rode on to TBC and skulled a few pints of their incredible brews, while sharing with their brewmaster a few choice beers from some of our friends breweries from back home in Oklahoma.

After finishing up at TBC and getting our growler filled we headed on into town. The ride was amazing and only took an hour of actual riding time from Illium to Town. We arrived in time to catch YMSB, and then to have an amazing dinner in town. That night was Elephant Revivals nightgrass show, so we were trying to pace ourselves for the long evening. We locked our bikes downtown, and headed back to the festy grounds, where I tossed the other cufflink into the pond in Town Park, so a piece of my Dad would always be in Telluride. And that is my greatest TBF memory. See you all this summer!